You finished Milk Fed and now you’re staring at the wall, unsure what to do with yourself. You need something similar… but don’t know where to start.
This list is for you if:
☆ You love female narrators who are a little unwell and very self-aware
☆ You’re obsessed with women who are obsessed
☆ You like your fiction intense, voicey, sensual, and slightly blasphemous
If this sounds like you, below are 5 recommendations I can guarantee you won’t be able to put down.
The Pisces by Melissa Broder
If you haven’t read Broder’s other novel, start here. It is everything Milk Fed is, just weirder and more existential. A heartbroken woman falls in love with a merman while spiraling through group therapy and bad decisions. Our main character, Lucy, goes on a journey of self-discovery while questioning everything she’s ever wanted.
“Was it ever real? The way we felt about another person? Or was it always a projection of something we needed or wanted regardless of them?” – Melissa Broder, The Pisces
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo
Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
Told in lyrical, literary nonfiction, Three Women dives deep into the lives of three women and their relationships with desire, shame, and themselves. It reads like fiction and leaves you obsessed!
“One inheritance of living under the male gaze for centuries is that heterosexual women often look at other women the way a man would.” – Lisa Taddeo, Three Women
At first, Lapvona feels nothing like Milk Fed. It’s set in a medieval village full of cruelty and absurdity, and most of the characters are objectively terrible. But underneath all that, both books are exploring similar ideas: the mess of being human, the confusion of wanting something you’re told you shouldn’t, and how religion can twist desire into something painful. If Milk Fed is about starving yourself in search of meaning, Lapvona asks what happens when you’re already surrounded by suffering and still feel empty.
“She was, to him, a holy grace, far more powerful than any priest or nun. God lived in her eyes. That was how he had fallen for her—like a religious conversion. It had struck him the moment he’d seen her, a profound, eternal love, the kind that occurred by cause of fate, against reason.”
―
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
This memoir will scratch that itch if you loved Milk Fed for its exploration of longing, control, and trying to find love in all the wrong places. A little softer, but still deeply vulnerable. This is a great read for those who are in their 20s and navigating any sort of relationship.
“Nearly everything I know about love, I’ve learnt from my long-term friendships with women.” –
A woman transcribes sessions for a therapist and becomes obsessed with one of the clients, a confident stranger she nicknames “Big Swiss.” When they meet in real life, things unravel fast. This is for readers who loved Milk Fed‘s mix of secrecy and emotional chaos.
“I spent a lot of time alone, but I was rarely lonely because I like my own brain.”
– Jen Beagin, Big Swiss
Milk Fed leaves a very specific kind of craving. If you’re here, you’re probably looking for something that hits in a similar way. A little strange. A little intense. Maybe even a little uncomfortable in the best possible sense.
Hopefully one of these books gives you that feeling, whether you’re in the mood for something sharp, quiet, messy, or all of the above. If you’ve read something that belongs on this list, I’d love to hear about it.
Thanks for reading. Go get lost in something weird and wonderful.
Interesting suggestions. I haven’t read any of those before, but now I’m intrigued. I look forward to your next blog!